Attacks on shop staff hit a record 2,000 every day, damning figures reveal – as retail bosses demand urgent action to tackle lawlessness_Nhy
Shop theft and attacks against retail staff have hit the highest levels on record as bosses demand urgent action to tackle lawlessness.
Violent and abusive incidents hit more than 2,000 a day during the 2023/2024 financial year, a survey has found.
And retailers have ‘little faith’ that the police are taking shoplifting seriously as the cost to firms rose from £1.8billion to £2.2billion.
There were more than 55,000 incidents of theft per day, equating to more than 20 million in total.
The alarming figures show the issue is getting worse, with cases of attacks and shoplifting beating last year’s record numbers to be a fresh high since the surveys began in 2001.
Retail crime is ‘spiralling out of control’, according to Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, which produced the research.
This is despite businesses paying a record £1.8billion on prevention tactics such as CCTV, more security guards and body worn cameras.
Some 61 per cent of retailers say the police response to calls for help has been ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’.
Retailers are reporting unprecedented levels of violence towards their staff, with the number of incidents involving a weapon more than doubling to 70 per day.
Shop theft and attacks against retail staff have hit the highest levels on record as bosses demand urgent action to tackle lawlessness (stock photo)
Pictured: A man in Oxted squatting down and hurriedly shoving four candles into an open Sainsbury’s bag before leaving the shop in a recent suspected case of shoplifting
Violent and abusive incidents hit more than 2,000 a day during the 2023/2024 financial year, a survey has found (stock photo)
Alarming cases include staff being ‘spat on, racially abused, and threatened with machetes’ and the perpetrators ‘are getting bolder and more aggressive’ by the day, according to Ms Dickinson.
She added: ‘With little faith in police attendance, it is no wonder criminals feel they have licence to steal, threaten, assault and abuse.
‘Retailers are spending more than ever before, but they cannot prevent crime alone. We need the police to respond to and handle every reported incident appropriately.’
As a result, the industry group reiterated calls for attacks on shop staff to be made a specific offence in England and Wales, as it is in Scotland.
Labour has promised to do this in the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill, which the industry is hoping will be introduced in the coming weeks.
It marks a victory for The Mail, which led the way on exposing abuse against store workers and shoplifting and called for authorities to take the issue more seriously.
The campaign began after Tesco boss Ken Murphy revealed that every frontline worker was to be offered a body camera due to a rise in attacks.
Keir Starmer insisted the country could not tolerate ‘a situation where shoplifters can walk in, shoplift and walk back out again and nobody can do anything about it’ last year
Pictured: Footage shows a woman who steals a beauty item and then flees the shop after being confronted by a member of staff in a recent suspected case of shoplifting
Almost 444,000 shoplifting offences were recorded by forces in England and Wales in the year to March, up from 342,428 in the previous 12 months
Ministers have also vowed to remove a £200 threshold that means many shoplifting cases are deprioritised by police.
The current laws mean that theft has been ‘decriminalised’, according to Lord Stuart Rose, the former boss of Asda and Marks & Spencer.
But Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer insisted the country could not tolerate ‘a situation where shoplifters can walk in, shoplift and walk back out again and nobody can do anything about it’ last year.
The frequency of attacks mean that many of the 3 million people working in the retail industry are terrified to come to work, according The Retail Trust.
‘People are contacting our helpline in their thousands to report horrifying incidents of abuse and violence and many say that they are now at breaking point,’ Chris Brook-Carter, the organisation’s chief executive, said.
